In His Shadow
by mrslukecastellan
Summary: *REWRITTEN* Did you know Luke Castellan had a sister? Not many do. She is clueless. Through her eyes she learns about being a demigod. See Luke makes his decisions, good and bad. And wonder how she will be her own person when she is so far in his shadow. Make sure to also read RandomTeddyBear's In The Light of Zues. It is the companion to this that YOU MUST READ TO UNDERSTAND.


_**Alright, thanks for coming in here and reading. I'm glad you're here. This is the new version of In His Shadow. I just wanted to let you know that if you are coming from the old story, this one is a little different, but it'll follow kind of the same plot. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, then hey….you're new here, and I am really glad you are here. Please let me know what you think in a review. I love to hear what you guys think! **_

Have you ever felt like something was off? Like you know where you belong, and where you are isn't that place? I feel that every day.

I'll start at the beginning of the story. My father left when I was a baby, and my mom was possessed or something. I couldn't really explain it, besides the fact that she was a horrible person with a problem. One minute she'd be talking to me calmly or making dinner, and the next minute she'd have glowing green eyes, smoke curling out of her mouth, and saying things like "Not my Luke!" and "HORRIBLE FATE!" in the creepiest voice, all the while shaking me by the shoulders like a rag doll.

Oh, you're wondering who Luke is…..he used to be my brother.

He just left when I was 4. He was 9 at the time, and I don't remember much about it, besides he was packing a backpack and crying, and when he saw me he kissed my forehead, handed me a teddy bear, and told me to be good. I didn't know where he was going, and I still have no idea. For all I know, he could be dead…but I don't want to think about that. I mean….he is my brother. And even if I haven't seen him in years, I remember that he was a very good brother. He helped me with everything. And I was thinking about him as I went to school the last day of my freshman year.

The day that everything changed.

I was sitting in algebra class, trying to not fall asleep, as my teacher spoke far too fast for anyone to catch what she was trying to say about the FOIL method.

_What kind of method is called FOIL? I wish I had some foil to throw at her face_. I thought_. How can a class still be this boring if she is talking so fast? That should keep my attention….._

"Natalia Castellan!" Mrs. Marsh exclaimed, and for one second I thought I was going to have to actually do math in math class. "Come here, there's someone here for you."

I raised an eyebrow, looking up from my half-asleep state to see a tall, blond boy with a scar running along his cheek.

_Dear god, he grew….. _I I still knew it was him. There was no way to _**not **_recognize him.

"Ohmygod, that is the sexiest guy I have ever seen in my life," one of the stupider of my classmates, Abigail, murmured to the kid sitting next to her. "He's here for you?" she asked, giving me a withering look. "Whore."

I rolled my eyes and stood, hitching my backpack up on my shoulder, flipping my blond hair out of my blue eyes, trying to look like a badass, but in my head all I could think was, "Stab me, the asshole is back!"

Luke was back. And he was standing at the front of my algebra class like a frigging Abercrombie model, while my classmates gawked at him like a bunch of cattle. This is why mom should not have put me into an all-girls school.

"Thank you very much, ma'am," Luke said, smiling charmingly, and I swear to everything, Mrs. Marsh, who had hated me this entire year, smiled back. "Oh, of course. You poor dears. I hope your mother gets better soon."

I pouted and pretended like I was shocked. "Oh goodness, mom's sick? We should get to her right now." I fake things extremely well, and I've always been a gifted actress. I think it's all the lying, really. I mean, actors are just paid liars.

I walked out of the class looking distressed, but started glaring the second the door slammed shut behind me. "What are you doing here?" I hissed. "What, you think you can just show up here after 10 years and claim me, in front of everyone, like nothing is wrong?"

He snickered, shaking his head at me. "Nat…."

"What?" I snapped. "Did I say something entertaining?"

"Yeah, actually."

"Enlighten me. What could possibly be funny to you, mister be-good-and-stay-with-mom-while-I-go-wherever-the-heck-I-want-without-you?"

"Claimed." He said simply, and started walking. I had no idea what that was about, but I rolled my eyes and followed.

"Is mom really sick?"

"Not more than usual."

This time it was my turn to shake my head. "Usual. Like you have any idea of what mom's usual behavior is."

I couldn't help being bitter. It felt like the sickest cosmic joke, having my beloved brother, the brother I would have done anything and everything for at one point, come back, just when I was starting to get over the pain of everything. I had given up on him coming back by the time I was his age, and had given hope on everyone by the end of middle school.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, ok? I needed to get away. Dad came, and I didn't like the reasons. It was such bullshit, Nat. I couldn't stay there, with a phony dad telling me phony little lies, and mom just spewing smoke and screaming that I was going to have some horrible fate. I couldn't stay."

I felt the tears dripping down my cheeks before I realized I was crying. "Then why didn't you take me? You could have. You didn't have to leave me with her."

He stopped in his tracks, turning and standing in the middle of the hall. "You were too young. I wasn't even sure I was going to survive being on my own. I didn't want my baby sister to get hurt."

I tried to come up with something clever, something that would tell him exactly how much I hated him, but all I could muster up was, "Well, I'm not a baby anymore. And you have a decade of brotherly experiences to make up for."

I was going to make sure he made up for all the time lost. I needed a brother. Not a mother who didn't want me. And she really, really didn't. She loved Luke, and hardly ever remembered she had a daughter. I don't think she had ever had a conversation where he wasn't mentioned somewhere in it, exorcist-style screaming to make it even more childhood ruining. Luke left, and my mom flipped out on me. She tied me to a chair and refused to let me do anything until I told her what I knew. And I knew nothing but that he wasn't going to be there to pick me up from pre-school.

"Where Luke go?" I kept asking, my little 4 year old self sobbing in complete and utter desperation and confusion. Did the woman care? Of course not! She just kept screaming about 'her baby boy' and his terrible fate. I was her baby. And she never was my mother after I learned to walk.

"We have to go." Luke says, and I realize we are still standing in the hallway.

"Where?" I ask. "Home? They'll call home to try and find out where I am is if I don't show up for the summer school math class Monday." I thought I was pretty smart, coming up with that comment.

"We are going to camp."

"Ha! Yeah, ok. And I'm going to a Victoria's Secret photo shoot this weekend. I don't camp, Luke. You're high. Come on, what are you on?"

He furrows his brows. "No, Natalia. I'm dead serious. We're going. Right now." He said, tugging on my arm.

"Now? I have nothing packed. We'd need to go home, and I swear mom would murder me on the spot for being there in the middle of school."

"We would be fine." He insisted.

I hardened my stare and hoped my eyes are boring into him. "No, Luke. _**You**_ would be fine. I would get in a metric ass load of trouble. Because you're the favorite child. Mom loves you. She hates me."

He frowned a bit. "Yeah, she kind of does. But dad loved you."

I whipped my head around. I knew barely anything about my dad except that he disappeared when I was born.

"What do you mean? I met dad? When? Was he living with us? Who is he?"

I asked too many questions, but I needed answers. I was tired of Luke knowing everything.

"You'll learn everything you need to know about dad at the camp. I promise." He said.

He started walking in the direction of home, and I really want to cuss him out with every word I know. And trust me, there's a lot. But instead of cuss words, I get a bunch of gibberish spouting out of my mouth. Is that Latin? Am I speaking Latin?

"Hey, you shouldn't use that kind of language with me." Luke said. He understood what I said. I didn't, but he did apparently.

"You know what I just said?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah, you told me to…well, I can't say it around here. It was that inappropriate." He smiled.

_I'll find out later. I'll find out later._ I assured myself that I trust Luke. We'd reached home and Luke grabbed his car keys out of my backpack, unlocking a silver convertible. He slid into the driver's seat and I got in shotgun. The green leather seats were warm thanks to the heat from the sun. He put the key into the ignition and immediately speeded up, doing at least 35 mph on the highway

"Luke, don't we need to pack?" I asked.

He shakes his head. "Check your backpack." He says.

I quickly unzipped the backpack and found everything I could need. Tank tops, shorts, sneakers, socks, sunscreen (5000 SPF! WHAT THE HELL!) And bug spray. I also have a ton of rubber hair elastics and well….lip gloss, and all the girly stuff. Luke knew what to pack. And I had no idea how I didn't realize any of this was in the backpack the whole morning.

"How did you know what to pack?" I asked.

"Well….I looked in Annabeth's suitcase last year and everything that she had I figured you would need too. Sorry I went through your drawers to get all of it." He says.

"When?" I ask. "And who is Annabeth?"

"Last night when you were asleep. I knew it was time to take you." He pauses. "Annabeth is a friend. And…I have friends, ok? You'll meet them, just relax."

"Ooh, friends." I murmured. "Are are your friends girls?" I felt a little jealous.

"No!" he exclaimed. "Just my best friends. Thalia and Annabeth."

I took a deep breath. I was so scared right then I could have screamed. But I didn't in fear that Luke would drive off the road.

"Where are we going? Like, where is this camp?" I ask.

"Long Island, in New York." is his response.

We live in Westport, Connecticut. Long Island was about 2 hours away. But with the speed Luke is going, we'd be there in 40 minutes. I gripped the sides of the seat tighter and the acceleration increased. We're pushing 80mph! And there are people here doing like…40. We are way over the speed limit, but nobody came, like the police. Weird.

"Luke, slow down! You're going to get us killed!" I cried, trying to remain somewhat calm.

He only smiles and speeds up. I feel a tear come out of my eye and I know my brother must be insane. I squeezed my eyes shut and kept breathing deeply. In…out…in…out. I felt myself calm down a little bit.

I looked out the window, seeing the **YOU ARE NOW LEAVING CONNETICUT** sign. But with my dyslexia, it looks like **OUY REA OWN VGINEAL TIUCNENOCT**. Yeah, I hate dyslexia. And ADHD, while we're at it. I have both. Woo! The gene pool my family had was exceptional, I swear.

I looked out the window again as we are going over the Brooklyn Bridge. I could see the huge skyscrapers of New York, and I realize we're pretty close to this camp. Luke continues speedily driving, but in New York, that's what everyone does.

"How much longer?" I asked.

"10 minutes-" He sped up. "Make that 5." He said.

I felt my heart beat faster and faster. I had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling about this.

Something hurtled through the back windshield, and suddenly Luke swerved and the car lands at the bottom of a huge hill. Luke jumps out with his backpack and I get out too. He inspects the damage, screams some cuss word in Latin...or maybe it's Greek, I don't know anything about foreign languages, and then we both take off running.

"What…was…that…about?" I said in between breaths.

"We're….being….followed. I knew…this….would happen." He replied.

His blond hair is wet with sweat, and I'm sure mine is too. We kept running and I could see the brown awning of a gate. CAMP HALF BLOOD. I have no difficulty reading this, like I do with most everything else.

"Is this it?" I asked. This could not be it. This was all too strange to think about.

"Yeah." He replied.

We ran and ran and ran through the gate. I feel myself drift through some invisible force, and then I was panting and gasping, looking at a strawberry field, and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

"Who was following us?" I asked.

"Probably Hades sending one of his pets after us." He said.

I had never heard something stranger in my life.

"Hades? Like, the guy from the myths?" I thought Luke was so high at that point. It was the only explanation my brain could work up at the moment. But at the same time…..something had come through the windshield. And we were something I had never been before. Some place Luke obviously knew about.

_Was this where he had been all these years?_

The ground shakes a little bit.

"I would not refer to the Lord of the Dead as 'that guy from the myths'. We treat the gods with respect." Luke said slowly, as though explaining to a young child. I suppose to him I was a young child. "And we definitely do not mess with one of the Big Three."

I raised an eyebrow, having no idea what he was talking about. "But…the gods aren't real. There in myths. Stories. We learn about them in school, but they are like…really old. We don't worship them as our gods anymore."

Luke bit his lip and gasped. "I wouldn't say that if I were you. And for your information, we do worship the Olympian gods as ours. When you ask the universe for anything, you are talking to them. When you pray that teacher won't call on you, or you ask that just this once mom won't start screaming, or she'll stay asleep, or just please god, don't let dinner by a peanut butter sandwich and Kool-Aid if there is anyone listening to you, you're praying to our father." He says.

My eyes went wide. "Our father!" I shrieked. "What does our no good, rotten, family ditching father have to do with any of this? I've never seen the guy in my life. Have you met him?" I yelled.

He looked at me with sad eyes. "Once. He came to see you as a baby….or…well….you were 4. You wouldn't remember it. But he came to see you, but before he went to see you, he told me he knew what my future was going to be. He couldn't look me in the eye. I tried asking, but he wouldn't tell."

I smirked. "Now you know how I feel. How I've felt my entire life. I don't have any idea why our mom is so strange. I have no idea where my dyslexia or ADHD come from. I have never heard anyone speak about dad, and I certainly don't know what this place is. What's a halfblood?" I ask.

"A half-blood is a mortal child of a Greek god or goddess and a mortal man or woman. We have a mortal mom and a godly dad. We're halfbloods." The answer came so easily that I knew he wasn't lying about it. Or maybe he was…at that point, I didn't know what to believe.

I started crying. I sat on the grassy ground and start sobbing. Finally, Luke started telling me things. It made me so happy, but it hurt so much knowing that my dad knew me as a little kid. Meaning it's been 10 years since he's seen either me or Luke.

"Did he know anything about my future?" The words came out so soft I wondered if he had even heard htem.

Luke shook his head, looking at me with as much sympathy as I imagined a person could have.

"How did he know yours?" I asked.

"Mom had told him. Here at camp we have a fortune teller. Sort of. She's called the Oracle. Mom tried to be her, but Hades, you know, the guy I was mentioning before, the Lord of the Dead, had put a curse on whoever had tried to be the Oracle. That's why mom gets all…weird."

I stood up and walked to him. I collapsed into him and hugged tightly. He didn't reject it, and I smiled. I release him once I felt like I wasn't going to collapse as soon as I moved again.

"Who is our father?" I asked.

"Our…well, the god or goddess needs to claim you as their child, but as far as I know, your father is the same of mine. Hermes, the messenger to the gods, god of thieves and tricksters, secret agent type to Zeus, and possibly Hera's least favorite son."

This is why we never saw dad. And that was the day I stopped wondering where I belonged.

Now you know where the story began…let me take you into the story.

The story of when my brother was the beloved Luke Castellan-hero and villain. The story of our lives.

-"So you are telling me our dad is a Greek god?" I ask Luke.

He nods and sits down next to me on the damp ground.

"We should go check in with Chiron. He'll be looking for us soon enough. I'm never late."

I look at him for a moment before speaking.

"Why do I get the impression that I have heard that name before?" I ask.

He laughs. "Let me give you a hint. Everyone you meet here is someone from the Greek mythology world. Any demigod you meet here is the daughter or son of one of the 12 Olympians. Do you know who they are?"

I nod my head.

"Really? Do you? Prove it."

I take a breath and think a second about who the Olympians are. I know that I know this. "Um….Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hermes…..Artemis, Ares, Athena…Hera….Apollo, Dionysus, and Hephaestus." I answer.

Luke nods and I smirk, happy that I finally have done something to please him. Maybe I am cut out for this, like he said.

"So….where do we stay? Like…are there cabins?" I ask.

Luke stands up and brushes off the dirt from his jeans. "Yeah, there are. But we need to go see some people first. Make sure you know the people you'll be getting to know the most."

I open my mouth and Luke wordlessly takes my hand, dragging me through the grass and up to a huge white farmhouse. I can smell the light scent of strawberries.

Luke pounds up the steps and I have to nearly sprint to keep up. He walks around the wraparound porch and I see a man in a wheelchair and a short man with greasy black hair, a tiger print shirt, and a red, angry face. He holds a Diet Coke in his hand and shakes it around aimlessly. Luke walks up to them and again, I follow, staying slightly behind him.

"Chiron, I came to check in. Make sure you knew I got here safely."

The man in the wheelchair looks over the back of the chair. "Luke Castellan, I thought I would have to send out a search party to come and find you. What happened to never being late?" He says.

Luke laughs again, but lighter. Happier. Weird. He's happier with this guy then me, his own sister. He's someone different. Well, I'm sure that he's spent more time here then with me.

"Was I really that late?" He asks.

The man chuckles. "No. But you were late by your usual standards." The man Luke called Chiron says.

"Does escorting a new camper cut me some slack?" Luke asks.

"Of course." Chiron replies, turning the chair to face Luke and I.

So of course, I decide to look at my feet to relieve my nervousness, which barely does anything.

"Allow me to introduce you to my younger sister, Natalia." Luke says, shoving me forward.

I nearly trip from the force. When did Luke get so strong? I look up at Chiron and offer a weak smile.

"Well, aren't you pretty! Are you sure Luke is your brother?" Chiron says cheerfully.

"Only on some days, and the rest of the time I'm not even sure he's real." I say back.

My voice comes out clear and concise, bright and bold. When the heck did I get courage? I had always hated talking to people. Especially people I am meeting for the first time. Chiron laughs and Luke blushes, rubbing behind his ear and looking up into space.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you." Chiron says.

I nod and smile, hoping Luke will say something.

"You should get to know Mr. D. He's the other camp director." He continues.

The man in the tiger print shirt holds up a hand in a small wave. "How old are you?" He asks.

"14." I answer.

He winks at me and makes a little kissing motion with his lips.

Luke takes my hand and starts turning me around, calling over his shoulder "Always a pleasure seeing you." Then he rushes me down the steps and starts pulling me toward 12 buildings, all in a U shape.

"Hey! What was that for? I was having fun." I laugh.

Luke blushes again.

"_Di immortals_." Luke mutters.

I smile. "I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that. What were you saying?" I giggle.

"The gods are so…flirty! I mean really! Mr. D was flirting with you."

I blink a few times and register what he just said.

"And what's wrong with me?" I ask.

"Nothing. There is nothing wrong with you. I meant that you are 14, and he's a god that is thousands of years old."

I laugh a little and then realize how gross that is.

"What are we doing now?" I ask.

"We're going to meet Annabeth." Luke replies with a little smile.

Great. I get to finally meet the girl that has possibly been stealing my brother away from me all these years. Well, one of them. Thalia is the other girl I have yet to meet. But when I met Annabeth, I am going to give that girl a piece of my mind. Let her know that I hate her. Yeah, that is what I am going to do. Sounds like a good plan.

We walk a little faster to the array of cabins, and Luke walks right up to a large grey one. He bangs on the door and a somewhat tall girl with honey blonde hair and stormy grey eyes walks out, shutting the door with one hand, hugging Luke with the other. I figure she's maybe my age. I stand respectfully behind him, allowing them to have their moment together. Luke clears his throat.

"Annabeth, this is my sister, Natalia. Natalia, meet Annabeth Chase, head counselor of Athena cabin and one of your superiors."

The word superior triggers a little pang of pain inside me. I hold out my hand and Annabeth shakes it firmly.

"Luke, it has been forever since I have seen you." She says in a clear voice.

"It's only been two weeks, Chase!" He replies.

"It's still a long time, Castellan." Annabeth replies, punching Luke lightly on the arm.

She blushes a bit and then starts speaking to me.

"So, how would you like to ditch the old man and come hang out with me?" She says, jabbing a thumb into her chest.

"Sure. Um…is that ok, Luke?" I ask. Luke nods and Annabeth and I head off. This is the time to confront her.

"Have her at Cabin 11 in an hour. She needs to meet them." Luke calls.

Annabeth holds a thumb up quickly, drapes an arm around my shoulders and then together she and I walk to the end of the row of cabins and then down a short pier to a lake.

She sits down, and I sit down next to her. She looks at me, and then, she starts crying.


End file.
